256 THE MEYNELL HOUNDS. [1898 



the third prize dog hound, walked by that capital sportsman Mr. Robinson, of 

 Brereton ; Liable and Legible, by Lounger — Listless, walked by Messrs. Newton 

 and Lawley respectively ; and Affable, by Ladas — Amazon, walked l)y Mr. 

 Hammersley, of Rocester, and the verdict was " Afftible has it," with Solitude 

 second. Legible third, and Liable fourth, though not a few good judges would 

 have put the latter first. 



Then came a review of the old hounds, and uncommonly well they looked. 

 They were bright in then* eyes, bright in their coats, and full of muscle — three 

 unmistakable signs of health and condition. Cracker, another Colonel by the 

 way, came in for most individual notice, and deserved it too, for he is as good as 

 he looks, and that is saying a good deal. And then came the luncheon, in a large 

 marquee in the park, to which Mr. and Mrs. Fort had invited some two hundred 

 guests of every degree. What a cheery meal it was too, even if the rain did turn 

 the salt in the plates into salt water, and the drip from ladies' umbrellas moistened 

 the heads of their next neighbours. " We were not fed on dry bread and water, 

 though," as a farmer remarked when the master and giver of the feast apologized 

 for the moistness of the atmosphere. And who was there ? Well, nearly every- 

 body. There were faces at the high table whose backs we are accustomed to 

 see when hounds run, and they were not all masculine backs either, as Mr. 

 Swinnerton reminded us in an excellent speech. And as to the speeches. Mr. 

 Fort, who was most enthusiastically received, gave us " the Queen," and then, 

 after a pause, " the puppy-walkers." He spoke, as he rides, straight, and to the 

 point, and good-humouredly. The gist of this speech was that, next to land- 

 owners and farmers, walkers of puppies were the backbone of the chase. In 

 point of fact, it is doubtful if he did not put the latter first. " You might hunt 

 without a fox," he said, " or even without a country, but it was quite impossible 

 to do without hounds." Mr. Poyser and Mr. Robinson responded. Sir Oswald 

 Mosley, in an amusing speech, proposed the judges, and Tom Firr returned 

 thanks in his well-known quiet style. It was left for Mr. Swinnerton to bring 

 down the house with the toast of the day, " Our new master and Mrs. Fort " — our 

 master, it is to be hoped, till such time as " new " is converted into " old " — our 

 host and hostess of to-day. Mr. Fort, in returning thanks, reminded us that, 

 though the mantle of his Derbyshire predecessors had at last fallen on alien 

 shoulders, yet that, from the first day of his sojourn in the Meynell country till 

 to-day, his loyalty had never wavered. Where he had struck root, there he had 

 stayed, and there he hoped to stay — a sentiment which those who have the 

 welfare of the country at heart will indorse to the echo. To Mr. Gisbome fell 

 the pleasant and popular task of proposing the health of Charles Leedham, which 

 was received as it should be by the late huntsman's friends — in fact, he only 

 spoke the truth when he said himself that he did not think he had an enemy- 

 It was pleasant to note the cheery line he took when he spoke of the good 

 innings he had had, and wished the same good time to those who came after him. 

 We shall miss his ringing voice in the Staflbrdshire Woodlands, we shall miss 

 that rousing cheer which stamped the wavering prelude with the hall-mark of 

 certainty, we shall miss his fund of anecdote, dry sayings, caustic wit, and blunt 

 repartee, but most of all, perhaps, will many of us miss the man himself. 



G. G. 



